One of the best thing about my job is all of great new places I find when my clients choose the locations for their portraits. This weekend I had the opportunity to photograph high school senior, Avery, on the Joppa Flats at Plum Island in Newbutyport, MA.

It was a cloudy, overcast day, which couldn’t have been more perfect for the vintage, dramatic feel that this budding actress and aspiring screenwriter wanted to achieve with her photo shoot. It didn’t hurt that the area offered so many interesting places to take photos. We started out at an old lobster shack, but quickly moved across the street to a ramshackle boathouse, buried in a marsh, surrounded by tall reeds. Our view from the boathouse included an abandoned old home just down the road, and that was our next stop. The rabbits inhabiting the overgrowth that threatened to take over the property, skittered out of the way as we temporarily camped out in their territory, but the thickets they called their home provided an awesome background. Continuing our tour, we drove down to the drawbridge, where we found out why the marsh is called a marsh as we got our shoes filled with mud to get a shot of the barren landscape. We saved the best for last, however, as we jetted back up to the Plum Island Airport, where the hangar, the parked single-engine airplanes, and the old administrative building brought to mind an old Hitchcockian mystery - and Avery played the part of the leading lady perfectly!

This week I had the privelege of meeting the newest member of the Wallace family: two-week old Ellie. You may remember Eille’s Mom and Dad cavorting in the tropical ocean of Aruba at their wedding a few years ago on my blog. I think they must have brought some of that sunshine home with them, because Ellies beautiful little face was radient during her newborn photo session at their home in Charlestown, MA.

We began the session in Ellies bedroom, where she was super accomodating by promply falling asleep, alowing us to show off her cutness in her crib, on the dresser, and even on the elephant hamper. Every once in a while she would wake up, but a quick rock in Mom or Dad’s arms put her right back into baby dreamland. After our tour of her bedroom, we headed downstairs where she modeled a couple of new outfits provided by Grandma for the occasion. There the awesome light plus her cuteness equalled a great set of photos!

It is always so much fun to visit a family throughout a babies’ first year of life. It’s amazing to see them grow up before your eyes, and it’s always a treat to see the new things that they are able to do, and the new ways they interact every few months. Now nine months old, Abigail is very interactive. As soon as I arrived, she was super proud to show me her new belly scooting abilities, eating up the distance across the living room carpet to try to slime my camera with amazing speed and determination…and looking incredibly cute in the process. With her new talents, I had to quite a bit of scooting myself to keep up!

Fortunately, we were able to slow her down a bit by letting her do things that she’s normally not allowed to do. Like sit on the stairs, where she showed how delighted she was that the gates weren’t locking her out. OK, the delight may have been because of the concert of her favorite songs that Mom and Dad put on in the background. Between that, and our recitals of her favorite bedtime stories, we were did our best to keep her entertained. From the stairs we moved to a window seat, where she was able to see how cold it was outside (and be happy to be warm in the house), then into the mud room, where the coat bench gave her the best seat in the house. A quick trip up to her bedroom was next, where she showed off how well she was standing. After all of that work, we decided to let her have a little playtime in her play room, before corraling her up again for a couple of family photos.

Only one session left in her Baby’s First Year package, and I’m already eager to see what surprises she has in store this summer!

And here’s a lesson that I should have learned long ago! As the shoot was winding down, I thought I’d get one more crawling sequence by taking her toy and having her crawl towards me to get it back. Baby photographer fail!